Canada removes some visa restrictions on temporary foreign workers

The federal government of Canada has removed a few restrictions on visas given under Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), allowing firms to hire more migrant workers.

This decision is said to benefit companies in the seafood processing sector in the country, besides others. Earlier, there was a cap of 20 percent on foreign workers who could be hired by employers recruiting low-wage workers on temporary work visas. The new dispensation in Canada has granted relief to seasonal companies employing workers for a maximum period of six months, by removing this ceiling. This year, however, there will be no cap on the number of foreign workers that employers can recruit under the TFWP.

Canada’s employment minister MaryAnn Mihychuk, in a written statement, said that the government had heard from various groups across the country that the TFWP had to be changed. Some companies had told the government that there needed to be more flexibility in this program to plug their workforce shortage, Mihychuk added.

Dennis King, the Prince Edward Island Seafood Processors Association’s Executive Director, revealed that an agreement had been reached between the government and the Maritime Seafood Coalition in March this year.

According to a 2014 government report, employers recruited 12,162 workers in the year 2013 through the TFWP. One in five employers hiring workers under the program had over 30 percent of foreign staff in their total workforce, and 9.2 percent of the employers had up to 50 percent of foreign workers.

The federal government is expected to review the TFWP in the later part of 2016.

The TFWP will benefit a lot of Indians who are prepared to relocate to Canada to work and live there.